Thank you Ricky for this sample and for being a very patient swap buddy :)

I love the smell of the strawberries in this mix…it’s like strawberry milk or strawberry ice cream. Yum. Unfortunately, my matcha is a little affected by the smell/taste of some of the other teas in the box, so I’m not sure how much of the mellowed, milky flavor is from the matcha itself and how much is from the other yummy teas Ricky sent me. :)

This matcha, like 52teas Mandarin Matcha, has a kind of strange sharp, sour note. I’m not sure why…I assumed in the case of the Mandarin Matcha it was the acidity of the orange, but the same sourness is in this matcha as well. Maybe its a preservative or a flavoring thing? Or just the quality of the matcha itself? Who knows, but it’s keeping me from really loving this.

@Shanti: I notice the tart note as well. I attribute it to the combination of the fruit and matcha… since matcha has kind of a different sweetness than does either of these fruits, maybe the matcha brings out more of the tart of the fruit? I don’t know for sure, but I was just kind of thinking that was why… sort of like when you eat a chocolate cupcake and then drink orange juice… the orange juice tastes a bit sour after eating the sweet cupcake. :)

I thought it might be that as well, but it’s the same strange tartness in both the mandarin matcha and the strawberry matcha, and to me it doesn’t seem to be connected to the “fruit” flavor very much. I’m guessing it’s a preservative or something.

@Shanti: I notice the tart note as well. I attribute it to the combination of the fruit and matcha… since matcha has kind of a different sweetness than does either of these fruits, maybe the matcha brings out more of the tart of the fruit? I don’t know for sure, but I was just kind of thinking that was why… sort of like when you eat a chocolate cupcake and then drink orange juice… the orange juice tastes a bit sour after eating the sweet cupcake. :)

I thought it might be that as well, but it’s the same strange tartness in both the mandarin matcha and the strawberry matcha, and to me it doesn’t seem to be connected to the “fruit” flavor very much. I’m guessing it’s a preservative or something.